Beauty Favourites July

Posts about monthly beauty favourites are quite common with beauty blogs. I haven't posted one myself yet because I don't see my blog that much as beauty blog although it somehow is because I blog a lot about beauty. It's a beloved hobby and I want to share my experiences with experimenting with beauty products. It's a lot of fun for me to experiment and I also want to share my fun with you. Hence, I thought about posting such a beauty favourites post as well.

However, I sometimes get into the "Using up mode" which drives me to use up stuff I dislike. I try to get rid of stuff when I see that I don't like it. And often throwing stuff away is only the very last option, hence, I turn this "Using up mode" on and just use up. Do you know this "Using up mode", too? Because of this mode, I often don't have that many beauty favourites in a month. And if I have, they don't change that fast. Nevertheless, I would like to share with you what I liked most using in July. Maybe, I'll do this regularly. Let's see. ;-)

Last month I didn't have that many great products for the body. The Dove Blütenzauber body lotion was great, however. But I just didn't use it that often because it wasn't so warm in July and in the end I've been every day at University and there I work in a room with air conditioning. Believe me or not, but because I am working so often on my thesis in this room with air conditioning, I haven't worn sandals at all yet this year. In this room it's just too cold for sandals and the Dove Blütenzauber body lotion. From the products I used up in July, I especially enjoyed the Weleda Sanddorn body lotion sample and the Alverde Lemon Love body lotion. Also the soap by Alverde was great. This was actually it with body products.

For my hair, the only noteworthy product is the hair oil by Fructis. I really enjoyed using it in July. Otherwise, I did not use any noteworthy products that might have any potential for becoming favourites.

In the following I show you my face product favourites of July:

As I am quite content with my skin at the moment, I have not used any complexion makeup at all except of blush. As blush, I have used most often these two blushes:

Unfortunately, both are not available in stores anymore. The blush on the left is an Alverde cream blush in light pink which I rediscovered. I bought it two or three years ago and it is very light, does not contain any shimmer or glow and creates a very natural blushed look. It's perfect for a no makeup makeup look. I adore this blush and used it often and applied it with my fingers only. With this blush it's impossible to overblush and it blends as a dream.

The second blush is a peachy shimmer blush by Alverde from the Nude & Flash LE. I bought it in June and I love it. I am a bit picky with shimmery products and this blush has shimmer in it. And I indeed find it bit too shimmery though but it's wearable also for me. The hint of peachy colour that is left by it on the cheeks is so beautiful that I can live with the shimmer. But I have to admit that I don't wear it in strong sunshine because I don't want to look like the vampire Edward from the Twilight books/movies. If you have read/watched the books/movies, you might remember that his skin sparkled in bare sunshine. For someone as picky as me, it is a pitty that so many wonderful blush colours contain shimmer like e.g. Nars Orgasm.

I applied this blush with my ecotools blush brush which is one of my favourite blush brushes. It has a tapered top and this allows to apply the blush very precise. Somehow it also applies blush very evenly and blends it perfectly. With this blush it works like a dream. 

For my eye makeup I mostly used the following products in July:

Although I currently have 3 really great mascaras in use, they all differ and the one shown in the picture has been my favourite in July. It is the 2000 Calories mascara by Maxfactor. It is a rather subtle mascara and does not create very dramatic lashes, but as July was a rather relaxed month for me beauty wise, I preferred to use this one.

Of course, I also have used eyeliner but I was using up an old one which does not belong to my favourites. 

The eye shadows I used most often were these here:

These are

• a skin coloured eye shadow by Alverde which has not been my favourite in the beginning of our relationship but while trying to empty it, we have grown together. And now it's nearly empty and we soon have to part. I am not sad and I am looking forward to a new relationship with another eye shadow that I will use as a base. This one was a great base as it has exactly my skin colour and also a tiny bit of shimmer, but this shimmer was nearly invisible.
• my three dupes of the famous MAC satin taupe eye shadow. Somehow I never bought the original by MAC but ended up with three dupes. Things like these just happen. ;-) I like them all though and use them interchangeably in the crease. The three MAC satin taupe dupes are:
• Utaupia by Kosmetik Kosmo (it is available here)
• My first copperware party by Catrice (I think it's still available)
• Burnt bark by Mafxfactor from the Earth Spirits series (this one is also still available)
• In the crease, I also used a matte eye shadow called "090 brown delight" by P2 (also still available)

Here are swatches of the eye shadows I used in the crease in July (without and with direct sun light):

I have applied the skin coloured base eye shadow with my 778 eye shadow brush from bdellium tools. I like this brush a lot. It is rather wide and as such really perfect for applying a base eye shadow all over the lid quickly. Sometimes I also use this brush for the eye shadow base which has been by Zoeva last month. Last month however, I applied the eye shadow base with my fingers. The eye shadow base by Zoeva belongs also to my all time favourites.

My crease brushes have been the following ones:

These brushes belong to my all time favourites for eye shadow application in the crease. They are:

• MAC 226 
• MAC 286 (this has been released only recently as a replacement for the 222 which I also love but somehow have not used at all in July)
• The Real Techniques base shadow brush that came with the eyes set. I don't understand how this could be a base eye shadow brush. It's the perfect crease brush. 
• MAC 217
• Zoeva Soft Definer 227

If I had to choose one of them as my all time favourite crease brush, I would not be able to decide between the Real Techniques base shadow brush and the MAC 217. Both are great and allow a precise and perfect application of eye shadow in the crease. When I start using the Real Techniques after some time of neglect, it's greatness always takes my by surprise. This shows that it actually always outperforms other brushes. It's a really, really great brush and I enjoyed using it in July a lot. With the MAC 217, I was struggling at first because I was not able to use it properly in the beginning. Our relationship improved only after I watched a tutorial by TiffanyD where she showed how to use it and since then I am deeply and madly in love with this brush.

Last but not least let's discuss my skin care in July. During the whole July and also the whole June, I was using my favourite summer eye cream which is the Weleda Wildrose eye cream. I love this eye cream and repurchase it often. This one might be my fifth or even sixth repurchase. So, my eye care was indeed a favourite. With general face care it was a bit more difficult. After having used up the rather annoying face skin care discussed in my July empties post, I started to use my beloved Clarins Hydraquench Cream for normal to dry skin. Last summer I had a 15ml sample and this sample was so satisfying that I repurchased this cream and now I am using it again. Unfortunately, I bought one with SPF 15 which can only be used in the morning. This is why I use up other face creams as night creams. These other face creams are not good and, hence, my skin state is not quite as good as it was last summer with the sample. But it is not that bad either because every morning the Clarins Hydraquench cream rescues my skin. It's a great face cream.